4.3. Lecturers' views from
interviews
As discussed in Section 3.3, I interviewed three lecturers out
of six who had also responded to my questionnaire. The interview consisted of
11 questions. However, the number of questions varied depending on the
interview circumstances. I sometimes reformulated questions to let the
interviewee extend more his contribution on the topic. Below are the main
findings that fall under two major themes as foregrounded in the questionnaire
(i.e. background and experience in watching TV and second, attitudes towards
the role of TV in English teaching and learning).
4.3.1. Background and experience
in watching TV
Questions 1 and 2 deal with this theme.
Q1: Do you ever watch TV?
Regarding his past and present experience in watching TV, L1
(the first interviewee) told me that he only watches TV after work. On the same
question, the second interviewee L2 replied that he watches TV on a daily basis
and the duration may take from three to four hours depending on the programme.
The third one (i.e. L3) emphasised that she sometimes watches TV but all
depends on the topics aired. She stated that if the topics are not interesting,
she just switches the TV off.
Q2: What are your favourite programmes?
Concerning this question, the first respondent (i.e. L1)
specified that the news comes in the first position and the magazines
afterwards whereas the second interviewee (i.e. L 2), affirmed that he was
particularly interested in news and other programmes like music, live events,
soccer and documentaries. L 3 on her part mentioned news as the programme she
watches most of the time.
The next section contains lecturers' attitudes on the use (or
potential use) of TV in English language teaching and learning.
4.3.2. Attitudes towards the
role of TV in English teaching and learning.
Questions 6,7,8,9 and 10 tackle this theme.
Q6: Do you ever use TV while teaching English?
L1 stressed that he is not in a position to use TV due to
facilities that have broken down. L2 has never made use of TV whereas L 3 used
it with her former students at the EPLM. (see Appendix D)
Q7: Do you think TV can be a valuable teaching tool while
teaching languages?
In response to this question, L1 assumed that TV is generally
helpful. It helps students to understand languages better because they watch
and listen at the same time. L2 believes that TV supports English learning when
it is properly used. He added
As regards listening for instance you can use TV
if you have video taped programmes that you use in the classroom. This can help
students to improve or to get accustomed to various accents of English
depending on whether the programmes are developed by American or British
speakers.
With regard to speaking, he argued that students' presentation
skills can improve if they refer to the speakers they watch on TV. In this
case, they may be asked to be involved in similar activities as those on TV
such as debates, discussions, role plays etc. L3 on her side stressed that, for
example TV offers authentic material and different reporters have different
pronunciations which the students are exposed to and so they can adjust to each
situation.
As far as developing listening and speaking skills by means of
TV materials is concerned (i.e. Q9: Do you think TV materials can
improve your learners listening skills? Q10: Do you think TV materials can help
learners improve their speaking skills?) my interviewees also
expressed their opinions on the issue. L1 elaborated on how students' listening
abilities can be improved in the following words:
... normally you record the target programme and
then you let your students watch. Prior to watching, he would make a kind of
preview of the programme, and then set questions so that the students watch
while trying to find answers to those questions.
L2's views on developing listening as well as speaking skills
have been referred to earlier (i.e. familiarity with other accents and
acquiring presentation skills) but the interview provides additional
information on aspects of the usefulness of TV in teaching speaking. He
maintained that TV can also be a valuable teaching tool because it can help
them to develop these performative skills: to speak, to use body language, to
improve on their accents, expressions and so forth. On L3's part, her attitudes
on listening have been touched upon above (i.e. exposure to different
pronunciations). With regard to developing speaking skills, she has this to
say:
... students had those TV presenters as models. So
they could imitate them, imitate their pronunciation and get exposed to ways of
pronouncing well known words.
In the next section, I present the documents that will be
subject to analysis in Section 4.5.5. The documents discuss the nature of the
programmes used in the Department of English in the Faculty of Arts and
Humanities at the NUR. I examine their content in terms of the checklist
mentioned in Chapter 3, Section 3.4.3. The criteria focus on the teaching and
learning approach underlying these programmes, the provision they make for the
use of audiovisuals, such as TV and the selection and design of materials and
tasks based on TV materials.
| 
